Evaluating Learning

Throughout their time in school, obviously, students are taking in a bunch of information from their instructor. During that time, they are being evaluated on how well they are learning such information no matter what subject it to be.

We as future Agricultural Educators have the open door of many opportunities in evaluating our students. And the great part about it is that there is no "set" way to evaluate. I absolutely love having a variety of techniques (being that I am one of those people who get bored rather quickly) to use in each of my units.

What are the Types of Evaluation?

There are two main forms of evaluation. They are classified as either formative or summative assessment. Other forms include: direct and indirect assessment.

Summative assessment includes thing such as tests and quizzes which are usually cumulative, and they include an end-of-unit grade.

Formative assessment is different in the fact that the students are constantly being graded. They are evaluated not just at the end of the unit, but in fact throughout the course. Whether it be the teacher helping them on assignments or the student answering an in-class question, assessing our students formatively is continuous.

Direct assessment is based on a student's' ability to apply their knowledge into a real-world situation. Whereas, Indirect assessment is completed after the students have taken the course; this can be conducted in a survey format.

How Will I use These Methods?

I am super excited to implement many different methods of evaluation. Call me the evil teacher, but I enjoy giving tests; however, not all of my tests are written.

I already use formative and summative assessments with my 4-H kids, so using that in the classroom should not be too much of a hassle, In my electrical unit, for example, I will be giving an assignment to have the students layout the wiring for a house with using a maximum of a certain amount of watts. Throughout the unit I can constantly test their identification knowledge by asking them to grab certain tools. 

In the case that I will be teaching students with IEPs, I plan on accommodating and modifying my assessments in the appropriate matter based on that individual students needs. I found this article that seems to have exactly what I agree with when evaluating students, which can also be changed up for exceptional learners.

Overall, I cannot wait to hand out my first assessment, whether it be to tear down and rebuild an engine or to list the function of the four stomachs in a ruminant. Here's to hoping it will all go well.

Technology Reading Reflection

Many thoughts are racing through my mind as I watch the videos in preparation of our #TeachAg Genius project.

As someone who is about to start student teaching in a few short months, I wonder to myself if I will ever have an impact on my students enough that they will remember beyond the classroom. I want my students to know that they have the power to achieve anything as far and as high they deem possible. Just because we do not have a horizontal driver's license does not mean that we do not understand what is going on around us.

I was truly inspired by Angela Maiers speaking on how two simple words can change lives. What are those two words, you might ask? You Matter. Maiers spoke on how many people throughout their lives feel as though they are unnoticed or that they do not matter to others. The power of noticing is so extreme and has such an impact on others. As a future educator, I hope to have some sort of an impact on my students to make sure that they all get noticed; to make sure that they make sure that they know "You Matter".

One thing I absolutely hated throughout school was being so bench pressed for time in mastering a skill. As soon as I learned that Pythagorean Theorem, I was not taught how it applied in real-life before we moved on to another formula . Dr. Tae spoke some very true words as,

All of us can share and teach. It is our responsibility to distribute and share what we know. We can all be great teachers; we can share our knowledge freely and really change our world. Knowledge should not be selfish. Teaching and learning are part of our cultural habits. They should not just be something we do in school.

How can we have our students wanting to come back every day? How can we create lessons that will make us lock our doors to keep others out? How can we make such an impact? How can we tweak our teaching to make it the best?